In a significant ruling, the SEC v. Sripetch upheld a $2.25 million disgorgement award plus interest, holding that the SEC need not prove that investors suffered actual financial losses before reclaiming a defendant’s profits. The Commission had charged Sripetch and others with manipulating penny stock schemes, and while the defendant argued that disgorgement requires evidence of investor “pecuniary harm,” the …

The SEC is executing a coordinated enforcement strategy designed to deter fraud at scale. Its latest cases reveal a clear pattern: fraudulent offerings promising outsized returns, Ponzi-like structures disguised as legitimate enterprises, and insider misuse of confidential information. The message for boards and executives is unmistakable — weak governance and opaque compliance controls are not lapses, they are enforcement triggers. …

In SEC v. Barry (9th Cir. 2025), the Ninth Circuit delivered a decisive ruling that reinforces the SEC’s expansive use of the Howey test to define securities. The case involved Pacific West Capital Group’s sale of fractional interests in life settlements—arrangements where investors purchased shares in life insurance policies and relied on the company to pay premiums and manage reserves …

The SEC, under the leadership of Chair Paul Atkins, has made good on its pledge to return to the agency’s core mission of market integrity. In recent weeks, the Commission—sometimes in coordination with the DOJ and FBI—has announced a series of insider trading cases that read like a throwback to classic enforcement playbooks. For companies, boards, and compliance officers, these …